Poppy Seed Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Poppy Seeds Are Doing

Out of poppy seeds? First figure out which of their three jobs they’re doing: a dark, crunchy topping, a speckle of texture in batters and dressings, or, ground, the dense filling of Central and Eastern European pastries.¹ Sesame seeds cover the first two well, and black sesame even gives you the dark look. The filling is the hard one. No seed we found can stand in for it.

Sometimes the reason for a substitute isn’t an empty jar. Katzer notes that morphine can show up in urine after you eat a lot of poppy seed,¹ so if you’re facing a drug test, you may want to skip it. See poppy seeds for the safety details.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

The only thing you can measure is weight per spoonful, and that tells you how much seed you’re using, not how much flavor.

If poppy seeds are a topping

On a bagel or a kaiser roll, poppy seeds mostly give you a dark scatter and a bit of crunch. You want a seed about the same size that bakes well.

1. Sesame seeds

PROSEA describes sesame as a garnish for breads and pastries,² which is exactly poppy seed’s job here. Toasting changes its flavor, and on top of a loaf, the seeds toast while it bakes. Black sesame gives you poppy seed’s dark look.

Ratio (Computed, weight only): USDA gives 8.8 g for a tablespoon of poppy seeds³ and 9 g for a tablespoon of whole dried sesame seeds.⁴ So swapping 1:1 by volume uses almost the same weight of seed. That says nothing about flavor strength.

2. Nigella seeds

Nigella seeds are small and black, and Katzer notes people sometimes mistake them for black sesame.⁵ They’re a classic bread seed, and Turkish bread often shows them off. Their flavor is nothing like poppy’s, though. Katzer says they have little smell whole but pick up a vaguely oregano-like scent when ground or chewed, and he describes the taste as aromatic and slightly bitter.⁵ Use them where that suits the bread, like a savory flatbread, not a sweet roll.

Ratio (Method): Nigella is much more assertive, so start with about half the poppy seed amount.

If poppy seeds are in a batter or dressing

In lemon poppy seed muffins, seed cakes and poppy seed dressing, the seeds add speckle and a light crunch. They don’t add much flavor.

1. Sesame seeds

White sesame vanishes in a pale batter, so use black sesame if you want the speckle. If the seeds go into a dressing that won’t be cooked, toast them first in a dry pan. That brings out a nutty flavor.⁶

Ratio (Method): Start 1:1 by volume. USDA’s weights above show that keeps the amount of seed about the same.³⁴

2. Chia seeds

Chia seeds are small and often dark, like poppy seeds, but they act differently in liquid. A study of chia seed structure found mucilage in the outer layers of the seed coat, and when fully hydrated it formed a transparent “capsule” attached to the seed.⁷ In practice, chia goes soft and gel-coated in a wet batter or a dressing that sits, so it won’t stay crisp. It’s best in a muffin batter that goes straight into the oven, or sprinkled on top.

Ratio (Method): Start 1:1 by volume in batters you bake right away, and expect a softer texture.

3. Hemp hearts or flaxseed

Shelled hemp seeds are pale and bigger than poppy seeds, and flaxseed is brown and much bigger. Neither one looks like poppy seed.

Ratio (Method): Start with half the poppy seed amount and taste.

If poppy seeds are ground into a filling

Ground poppy seed is the base of sweet fillings all over Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria it fills strudel, and Germknödel, steamed yeast dumplings, come with powdered sugar, ground poppy seed and melted butter.¹ In Mughal-style cooking in northern India, ground poppy seed is a common thickener.¹

No seed we found can stand in for a poppy seed filling. A nut filling makes a different pastry, not a substitute. If you can’t get poppy seed, pick a recipe built around the filling you do have.

Allergies

Sesame is one of the nine major food allergens in the US, and peanuts and tree nuts are on the same list.⁸ Before you swap sesame for poppy seed in food for other people, make sure nobody at the table is allergic.

What isn’t known

• Poppy seeds come in gray and white types,¹ but no source we checked compares their flavor, so we can’t say whether white sesame is a closer match for white poppy seed.
• You’ll sometimes read that nigella tastes like a mix of onion and poppy seed. None of the sources we reviewed back that up.

Related

• Poppy seeds
• Sesame seeds, black sesame seeds and black vs white sesame seeds
• Sesame seed substitutes and hulled vs unhulled sesame seeds
• Nigella seeds and nigella seed substitutes

Footnotes

1. Poppy, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Weiss and de la Cruz, Sesamum orientale, PROSEA. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

3. Spices, poppy seed (FDC ID 171330), USDA FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

4. Seeds, sesame seeds, whole, dried (FDC ID 170150), USDA FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

5. Nigella, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²

6. Sesame, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

7. Muñoz et al., Chia seeds: Microstructure, mucilage extraction and hydration, Journal of Food Engineering, 2012. pure.ucentral.cl · Peer-reviewed ↩

8. Food Allergies, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov · Regulator ↩